Okay look - I didn’t grow up with comic books. But I read stacks of science fiction digests and I kit-bashed model cars into fantasy rods, and just tried to maintain a low profile until I could get out of the house. So you could say I’m a distant cousin of the comic book fan. /1

And sometimes one’s childhood passion follows them into adulthood, sometimes not, sometimes as an adult one finds a passion they never had as a child and embraces it. For me, that must include getting involved with a puppet show at the age of thirty. /2
So who’s to say whose passion’s legitimate and whose is bogus? Nobody. Someone might indict your passion but they have no ground to stand on and should be dismissed out of hand. /3
Maybe they’re envious that you have a passion, maybe they think that their passion is cooler than yours, or maybe they’re just insecure, who knows. Doesn’t matter. /4
What matters is that if something gives you joy, and in the process doesn’t hurt others, then by all means follow it. It’s how we explore our secret hopes, our shadow sides, our inner character. /5
It’s the same for comics as it is for sports, or opera, or cooking, or travel, or barbershop quartet or cosplay. It gives us joy, and maybe we can share that joy, which makes it even more joyful. So I invite us to ignore the baiting prattle of those who indict our passions./6
And I think the people who are dressing up today in the jersey of their favorite fullback or pitcher can and should identify with the person who dresses up as their favorite hero of literature or film or comics. It’s not that hard and it’s not that different. /7
So I say celebrate your passions and ignore the pettiness of those who don’t. Their bile is only as potent as we allow it to be. Indeed they are the ones who need to grow the hell up. Grab your passion, keep your head up and run with it. Godspeed. -kwm

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